Let me first of all wish you a healthy and happy year. Some of you may know that it never can be as happy as the previous year for me, but I can assure you,
I am doing fine, more and more ups then downs, learning to deal with it. It just takes time, but here I am with a new project. The Philosophy Class has to stay alive as long as I am alive :-)
If you look at our previous project on Materialism, in which I claim that materialism, or modern physicalism the better ontology offers concerning science, it is clear that there is no room for transcendental entities like gods or ghosts or spirits and the like.
One of the biggest arguments against such an ontological point of view is the classic belief, that if there is no god, then there also can't be moral standards. After all, how can you decide what is right and what is wrong?
Listen to the Reverend Al Sharpton -- I have seen him dozens of times on MSNBC -- debating the late atheist firebrand Christopher Hitchens: “If there is no order to the universe, and therefore some being,
some force that ordered it, then who determines what is right or wrong? There is nothing immoral if there’s nothing in charge.”
In the United States is a cultural and political battle going on. The quintessence of this battle is the question: who will, if not, has to be in power?
The parties involved are fundamentalist Christians, which are mainly white people and, well, I would say the rest of the American people with in between the two fighting parties a large "I don't know"-group.
The end goal of the fight for the Christian fundamentalists is, that America has to be a Christian (read "white") country obeying Christian morality. Some even questioned the separation of state and church.
Keep in mind, this is just the facade of the story. There is a lot more behind the scenes, for instance, that a lot of American billionaires are, or claim to be, true Christians, who wish to defend their beliefs or maybe financial interests, I don't know.
In Europe, something similar is going on. On the one hand, you see an increasing secularization, but on the other hand, you see right-wing politicians leaning heavily on their Christian faith.
Countries like Hungary and Poland have right-wing parties or even a president, like Victor Orban, who literally refers to reinstating the true Christian belief as the leading ideology.
In my lectures, I base whatever I say on facts of science and sound and logical reasoning, on open and fair arguments, but this battle that is going on isn't won by showing the facts.
The battle is less about the factual truth than about handling the truth. When you ask a fundamentalist Christian: Noah's ark and that flood, doesn't that mean that God murdered all of humanity without any trail?
And didn't he destroy Sodom and Gomorra simply because he didn't like the people there and how they liked to live without any kind of trail?
Aren't that crimes against humanity, such facts described in the Bible? The person asked to answer the question will gaze at you for a long moment and then say: You are an idiot.
This is how truth is handled. Let me just say that at this moment still 42% of Americans support their former president. In my opinion an immoral person. This boiled down to one theme: morality.
A lot of people claim that morality and moral rules come from (the Christian) God. A world without God? Unthinkable. For those who believe that morality comes straight from God the creator, acceptance of evolution, for instance, would open a moral abyss.
A default stance is: If there wouldn't be a God, there would be no order in the universe. There would be no way to determine what is right and what is wrong, so you can do as you like.
To quote my source: Perhaps it’s just me, but I am wary of any person whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior.
Why not assume that our humanity, including the self-control needed for a livable society, is built into us? Does anyone truly believe that our ancestors lacked social norms before they had religion?
Did they never assist others in need, or complain about an unfair deal? Humans must have worried about the functioning of their communities well before current religions arose, which occurred only a couple of millennia ago. -end quote-
My source is the book "The Bonobo and the Atheist", published ten years ago and written by my fellow countryman, the Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal. I'll use it to address the fundamental questions about morality without a god.
Since modern physicalism leaves no room for gods we have to answer the questions that will refute the claims of religious people, that you NEED religion and a god to have moral standards.
Thank you for your attention again....
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - Th Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
The Discussion
[13:20] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:20] Max Chatnoir: Thanks, Herman!
[13:20] herman Bergson: The floor is yours...
[13:20] Jane Fossett: :-)
[13:20] Somedirtycat Saule: I'm not sure this is a correct description without involving the Bolshevik mindset that all woke and cultural maxist leftists have. Many point out their cult like behaviour and lust for power. They have definitely an answer to the question ' who will, if not, has to be in power?' Much scarrier than rightwing fundies as the woke and cultural marxists people is totally without self insight about their power ambitions
[13:20] herman Bergson: Sorry Some...
[13:21] herman Bergson: Read the rules of this class ..is on my pulpit
[13:21] herman Bergson: but ok...
[13:21] Max Chatnoir: I think that the value of an omnipotent God is to create an authority figure that authoritarian bullies can ally themselves with.
[13:21] Max Chatnoir: I alone can tell you what god wants.
[13:21] Max Chatnoir: Did you see the ad about God creating Trump?
[13:22] Somedirtycat Saule: I think there is a war between two groups without self insight
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): speaking of cults. As an indie game developer i watch a lot of indie game reviews. There is a polish game studio who made a series of indie games to revolt against the increasing religious fundamentalism in Poland
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and so that made 2 games about perhaps the biggest christian sin of all, sex and lust
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust_for_Darkness
[13:23] Jane Fossett: I think 'morality' is the natural consequence of the developing brain. We needed social ethics to develop as a species
[13:23] Max Chatnoir: Interesting!
[13:23] herman Bergson: I did see that add Max....horrifying...
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): u can look them up on youtube, just as u know its totatlly NSFW but its also VERY impressive artwork still in these games but they were made as a protest against this
[13:23] Jane Fossett: God was unnecessary for morality
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): religion gaining power in the polish government
[13:24] herman Bergson: Indeed he was Jane ...
[13:24] Jane Fossett: oh?
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): so im very familiar with it indeed the current development regarding religion getting more gain in politics
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and indeed its an issue
[13:25] herman Bergson: I mean he was unnecessary
[13:25] Jane Fossett: agreed :-)
[13:25] Max Chatnoir: I don't think it's an accident that it's the authoritarian regimes that are promoting religion.
[13:25] herman Bergson: homo sapiens was there before religion
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): true
[13:26] Somedirtycat Saule: Why are you so afraid of Trump? He is only half as incompetent as the current President.
[13:26] herman Bergson: Indeed Max....religion is the best way to control the people
[13:27] Jane Fossett: Homo sapiens is perhaps 300,000 years old. Modern religions only date back 2K-4K
[13:27] herman Bergson: I am sorry Saule..but have you seen the latest figurers of economics under Biden...unemployment below 4% for two years now
[13:28] herman Bergson: That is the point Jane...!!!
[13:28] Jane Fossett: yes.
[13:29] Somedirtycat Saule: Your Biden is starting a big war in Europe. Trump will leave NATO. Thats good for me as a Swede.
[13:29] herman Bergson: So we have an interesting subject here to explore :-)
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Russia started the war, Not NATO
[13:30] Max Chatnoir: Saule, I think that Putin and Hamas might have had something to do with it.
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): its just one of Putins lies
[13:30] herman Bergson: Sorry guys...this is not a political talkshow
[13:30] Somedirtycat Saule: Nope. Biden family started the war in Ukraine.
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): im not gonna answer that one!
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ok move on
[13:30] Jane Fossett: <--sadly laughing at that comment
[13:31] herman Bergson: Ok...the Bonobo and the Atheist are our subjects ...
[13:31] Jane Fossett: ok
[13:31] Max Chatnoir: Get back to the bonobos. :-)
[13:31] herman Bergson: I will in the next lecture, Max
[13:32] herman Bergson: For now...thank you all for your participation again
[13:32] herman Bergson: Class dismissed...
[13:32] herman Bergson: Feel free to continue any debate however....
[13:33] bergfrau Apfelbaum: thank you Herman and class :-)
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